Another Labour Day loss

Even the Golden Boy was in Regina for the game. - Liam Richards / THE CANADIAN PRESSFan always have time for fun at the Classic. - Liam Richards / THE CANADIAN PRESSBombers running back Nic Grigsby heads for the end zone. - Liam Richards / THE CANADIAN PRESSBombers running back Nic Grigsby runs in a touchdown during the first quarter. - Liam Richards / THE CANADIAN PRESSAbout 30 Bombers fans watched the game at The Forks. - John Woods / Winnipeg Free PressRiders running back Will Ford scores a touchdown. - Liam Richards / THE CANADIAN PRESSBombers defensive back Chris Randle knocks a pass iaway from Riders receiver Rob Bagg. - Liam Richards / THE CANADIAN PRESSMike Gladue high fives Buzz and Boomer at The Forks. - John Woods / Winnipeg Free PressBombers QB Drew Willy looks for an open man. - Liam Richards / THE CANADIAN PRESSRiders QB Darian Durant looks for an open receiver. - Liam Richards / THE CANADIAN PRESSBoomer gets cozy with Sandy Broesky. - John Woods / Winnipeg Free PressTroy Stoudermire ran a punt back for a touchdown. - Liam Richards / THE CANADIAN PRESSTroy Stoudermire dives into the end zone. - Liam Richards / THE CANADIAN PRESSChristina Pereira reacts to the action. - John Woods / Winnipeg Free PressRiders running back Jerome Messam was a played a big role in Saskatchewan's game-winning drive. - Liam Richards / THE CANADIAN PRESSIt all came down to Anthony Allen's touchdown with less than a minute remaining in the game. - Liam Richards / THE CANADIAN PRESS

REGINA — They have been pummelled to a pulp and had their collective hearts ripped out. They have been oh-so close and they’ve been positively embarrassed.

But the script and the theme remains exactly the same for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in their annual trip west for the annual Labour Day Classic battle against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

LIAM RICHARDS / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Bombers kick returner Troy Stoudermire took a 64-yard punt return to the house against the Riders Sunday.

Loss after loss after loss after loss...

Officially, Sunday’s 35-30 defeat in front of 33,427 at Mosaic Stadium was the club’s 10th straight defeat in this annual get together. And the sting and frustration from this edition of the Classic — the winning score came with 55 ticks left on the clock — was so obvious in the Bomber locker room afterward it left you with one key question:

Just how many curse words can a club spit out in the six-hour stretch of the Trans Canada between Regina and Winnipeg, anyway?

"It’s not good. We’re not happy," said linebacker Ian Wild. "We’re not satisfied. We don’t want to just hang with them. We want to beat them. No one is happy in here."

The Bombers, who have now lost three of their last four to fall to 6-4, will take no solace in the fact that they helped put the ‘Classic’ back in Labour Day Classic on Sunday, rallying from a 21-7 deficit with just over four minutes left in the third quarter to grab a 30-28 lead with 2:58 left in the game.

But in a scene that was familiar to fans who watched the Riders run the ball at will against the Bomber defence back on Aug. 7th in a 23-17 loss, Saskatchewan moved the ball 75 yards when it mattered — six of the seven plays along the ground — and sealed their sixth straight win to improve to 7-2 on a 15-yard TD run by Anthony Allen with 28 seconds left.

The Riders finished with 160 yards along the ground against the Bombers, giving them a two-game rushing total of 346.

"I’m sure that people aren’t going to agree with me, but I’m not concerned about it," said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea about the team’s run defence. "No, I’m not."

Asked to explain, he added:

"Because we’re here and we’re in the game and I understand what’s going on more than what people see on film. That’s it. I’m not worried about it."

The Bombers got TD runs from Nic Grigsby and Drew Willy, three field goals by Lirim Hajrullahu and a spectacular 64-yard punt return for a score by Troy Stoudemire. But there were also enough Bomber mistakes to fill a lowlight reel.

"We didn’t play a full 60 minutes," said O’Shea. "I thought we did very well in the second half and it gave us a real nice chance to win, but we didn’t do enough in the first half.

"We went into the half down seven, but there must have been five plays in a row where there just weren’t good decisions, there weren’t good outcomes, there wasn’t good execution. But we go into the half down seven...

"We lost. It’s frustrating. We need to play 60 minutes. If we do anything after that first or second drive, if we do anything in the second quarter, if we eliminate any of the mistakes in the second quarter that pinned us down there it’s a different outcome."

The Riders win means they have won the season series between the two clubs in advance of next week’s Banjo Bowl when they meet again in Winnipeg.

"Our defence... we didn’t play a good game," said Bomber linebacker EJ Kuale. "A lot of mistakes.

"You’ve got to give credit Saskatchewan on that last drive. But they didn’t beat us with the run this game, I’ll say that myself. Quote, unquote: they did not beat us with the run. WE beat ourselves."

And, again, that brings us back to the theme that this one will stick in some craws for a long while this week. The Bombers have played the Grey Cup champions twice in the last month, and have lost by a combined total of 11 points.

"They’re not the champs this year," said Kuale. "In football, you leave the past in the past. It’s 2014. We have to get eliminate our mistakes. We need to spend extra time in the film room. We need to stay after hours and work on some things.

"It’s crunch time now."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait

WILLY KEEPS ON TICKIN'

REGINA — It’s been a week of scares for Drew Willy and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

On Thursday the Bomber starting QB — who has been so instrumental in the club’s turnaround this season — whacked his throwing hand on a defender. And then in Sunday’s Labour Day Classic loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders he went down in a heap early in the second half after getting his ankle twisted on a tackle by Rickey Foley.

Willy had to be helped from the field, but returned on the next series to help spark a Bomber comeback that had them ahead 30-28 with just under three minutes left.

“It would take a stretcher for me not to come back in,” said Willy afterwardd. “I love competing against that team more than anything in the world. It’s one of those things where once I could plant (my foot) a little bit off it, and Al said if I can plant on it I can go back in. I told him I could plant on it, and we did some good things there in the second half. I just wish I could’ve done more.”

Willy shook off an iffy first half to complete seven of nine passes in the final two quarters, albeit only for 90 yards. The Bombers managed just 171 yards through the air, but did pump some life into their ground game by rushing for 107 yards — 78 in the final two quarters.

“The guys were all coming up to me on the sideline, saying ‘Stick in there’ and ‘We need you out there,’” said Willy. “I never want to let any of my teammates down. They mean so much to me. I just really wish I could’ve done more to get the win for those guys because they play so hard. We did a lot of good things out there, but I’m sure we’ll look at the film and there’s going to be mistakes and we need to correct them, because we have this team next week as well.”

ON SECOND THOUGHT... It’s a coach’s nature to second guess decisions after the fact.

But Bomber head coach Mike O’Shea will not be playing the ‘what if?’ game about one of the critical moments of Sunday’s loss.

With the Bombers trailing 28-27, O’Shea opted to have Lirim Hajrullahu kick a 41-yard field goal — rather than gamble on third-and-one — with 2:58 left. The kick put Winnipeg ahead 30-28, but the Riders then answered with a 75-yard TD drive that was capped by an Anthony Allen run with 28 seconds left.

“You take the points,” said O’Shea. “They’re there for the taking, go ahead and take them.”

O’Shea was lamenting one other decision: with the Bombers ahead 7-2 in the second quarter, returner Troy Stoudemire made an ill-advised decision to return a Josh Bartel punt that appeared headed to the end zone

Instead, Stoudemire got only to the Bomber three-yard line. And, after conceding a safety when the offence sputtered and the ensuing kickoff led to the Riders’ first TD, the mistake ended up costing the Bombers nine points.

“When I go back and go back and look through the entire game I’ll wish I didn’t take that second safety,” said O’Shea. “That’s what I’ll wish. That was really a nine-point swing.

“You always second guess yourself. You gotta go back and look at everything. I had no problem kicking the field goal (with 2:58 left) at that juncture. If you get points on those drives you’re doing well.”

— Ed Tait

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